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Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Help Zelia fight cancer

by

1134 days ago
20220613
Zelia Castello

Zelia Castello

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Zelia Castel­lo is ac­cus­tomed to help­ing oth­ers, hav­ing served as a traf­fic war­den be­fore be­com­ing a mu­nic­i­pal po­lice of­fi­cer.

But just two years af­ter serv­ing for the Siparia Mu­nic­i­pal Po­lice, Castel­lo is fac­ing the worst set­back of her life.

In Jan­u­ary 2021, she was di­ag­nosed with Hodgkin’s lym­phoma, a type of can­cer that af­fects the lym­phat­ic sys­tem.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia, Castel­lo said fol­low­ing a se­ries of tests she was told in April that can­cer had start­ed spread­ing ag­gres­sive­ly in her bones.

A let­ter is­sued by Dr Kavi­ta Ram­lochan, con­sul­tant haema­tol­o­gist at the South­west Re­gion­al Au­thor­i­ty, said Castel­lo has not had a favourable re­sponse to both stan­dards and in­ten­si­fied front-line ther­a­py, adding her dis­ease was now clas­si­fied as re­frac­to­ry, which means the can­cer does not re­spond to treat­ment.

“At this point, the best chance of achiev­ing re­mis­sion would be with in­ten­sive sal­vage chemother­a­py fol­lowed up by an au­tol­o­gous hematopoi­et­ic stem cell trans­plant. Stem cell trans­plant is not avail­able and has to be sought abroad at great per­son­al cost,” Dr Ram­lochan said.

Zelia Castello

Zelia Castello

Since this di­ag­no­sis, Castel­lo has been seek­ing treat­ment abroad and was ac­cept­ed at the Max Hos­pi­tal in New Del­hi, In­dia. She said air­fare, a bone mar­row trans­plant, stem cell treat­ment and fol­low-up care will cost over TT$1.4 mil­lion.

“It is scary, very scary, es­pe­cial­ly now that I know the can­cer is spread­ing, but I have to face it if on­ly for my son,” she said.

Castel­lo said she and her fam­i­ly have been try­ing to raise the funds.

“My friends and fam­i­ly are do­ing what­ev­er we can to help with these costs. Even if it’s sales or go­ing from place to place seek­ing help, this is what we are do­ing,” she said.

Castel­lo said her mis­sion to raise funds has been filled with sor­row and hap­pi­ness.

Her six-year-old son Ker­mani stays with a rel­a­tive while she un­der­goes treat­ment at the hos­pi­tal. Show­ing videos with her son, Castel­lo said she tries her best to be pos­i­tive.

“When peo­ple see me, they say maybe the can­cer is not as bad as the doc­tors say but I know how I am feel­ing in­side. Every day I face pain,” she said.

“I know of many peo­ple who have died from this dis­ease this past year and every day I wake up, I have to say thank God that I am alive.”

Castel­lo said her body swells with the dis­ease and un­der her foot gets black.

Zelia Castello

Zelia Castello

“My worse fear is not be­ing able to beat this dis­ease and not be­ing around for my son, leav­ing him here with noth­ing,” she said.

“I am ask­ing the pub­lic to give me a chance to live for my son and my fam­i­ly. I want to be here as a moth­er,” she added.

Any­one want­i­ng to as­sist Castel­lo can con­tact her at 329-1688 or do­nate to First Cit­i­zens Bank Ac­count Num­ber 2283611. To con­tribute go to the web­site https://go­fund.me/40f4d87e.

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